


Booked Roses

by managician



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Implied Relationships, Yeah... It happened so, might include some minor relationships for other prompts but i'll tag everything accordingly!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-14 15:56:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15392256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/managician/pseuds/managician
Summary: “You don’t get it. I don’t know how to find my path, that’s the problem. How am I supposed to chase for a dream when I don’t have one?” Mimi whispers with sadness.“Then do everything until you find it.” Jou simply answers.Or Jou and Mimi, and everything in between.(collection of stories for jyoumi week on tumblr)





	1. Day 1 - Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thanks for checking out my story! It's written for jyoumi week on tumblr, which wouldn't have been possible without our dear @jyoumifeels organizing it! Be sure to check their page if you can for more content of this adorable ship <3
> 
> I hope you enjoy this! I'm not confident I'll be able to write prompts for each day, but I'll try my best, so keep checking back!

Jou, with time, has come to learn that Mimi is almost like his complete opposite. She used to be like a scaredy princess, never wanting to put effort in anything, but ever since their adventures in the Digital World, she’s evolved so much that Jou can barely recognize her sometimes.

 

She’s ambitious and ready to face life with all she has, moving forward without showing fear.

 

That’s what he’s always admired about her.

 

So when she tells him that she’s _envious_ of him, the busy and barely scraping by college student, Jou can’t be more surprised.

 

“I can’t ever settle for anything.” she mutters while sipping from her drink, a frown covering her downcast face. “But look at you. You have it all decided. You know you want to be a doctor, and you’re working to make your dream become true… But I can’t decide.”

 

Jou stares at her with slight worry, partially because a restaurant downtown doesn’t seem like the best place to discuss uncertainties about the future, but he’s not about to point that out, not when Mimi looks so troubled and he can help her.

 

He fiddles with his cup of coffee, trying to think of the right words. “I... don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.” he decides to talk honestly, from the heart, because that’s what he’s always done best.

 

Mimi’s head perks up, round eyes and pouty lips filled with curiosity, her hand still holding tightly onto her bottle of cola. “Really? How relieving.” she lets out, but the words are filled with biting sarcasm and unhappiness. “How can you say that? Everything’s wrong with it!”

 

“Why would you say that?” Jou asks, patiently.

 

“Why?” Mimi repeats, glaring at him as if he’s grown a new pair of arms. “Isn’t it obvious? I need to become an adult and decide what to do with my life… That’s what everyone says. And they’re right, but I can’t!” she whines again, shaking her head fervently.

 

“...And just because they tell you that, you’re going to listen to them? You need to find your own path, Mimi-kun. No matter what anyone says.” Jou retorts, not knowing how to approach the issue.

 

“You don’t get it. I don’t know how to find my path, that’s the problem. How am I supposed to chase for a dream when I don’t have one?” Mimi whispers with sadness.

 

“Then do everything until you find it.” Jou simply answers.

 

“...Huh?”

 

“Tell me. What do you have on mind? What kind of things would you like to do? Start listing all of them.” Jou instructs her, face suddenly serious.

 

Mimi is a bit taken aback by the change in his expression, but she does what he asked for. “I… I want to try out cooking. And sewing dresses. And playing some sport, I don’t know… Tennis. Like Sora-san.” she bites her lip, wondering if she should continue, and Jou nods encouragingly.

 

“Maybe also… Being a model? Oh! And designing the interior of houses… With all the carpets and decorations and stuff, you know?”

 

“That’s only five things.” Jou points out.

 

“Not ‘only’. It’s already too many things.” she protests half-heartedly.

 

“You can do all of them, as I said. Keep trying things until you find what works best with you.” Jou suggests, finishing his cup of now slightly cold coffee. “For a long time, I didn’t know what to do, either. I only wanted to become an adult because that’s what the people around me told me to do. But… now it’s genuinely my passion.”

 

“Thanks to the Digital World, right?” Mimi asks with a nostalgic tone, and there’s no doubt that she’s thinking about her partner, Palmon.

 

Jou’s own eyes darken for a second, remembering the last time he’d said goodbye to Gomamon. He doesn’t let his sadness show, and instead, brings Mimi’s attention back to the main topic. “It’s okay to not know what do you want to do, Mimi-kun. You can try everything you want until you find something you like. I know it’d be easier to find your dream right away, but… It’s okay. Alright?”

 

It looks like those reassuring words are exactly what Mimi needed to hear, because her eyes start shining brightly and she throws an insecure smile in Jou’s direction. Whether they’re glassy because of happiness or tears, Jou doesn’t know, and he doesn’t want to ask, because Mimi’s eyes are beautiful to look at, one way or another.

 

“Thank you.” she mumbles, exhaling like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She quickly chugs down what’s left of her drink before standing up with newfound determination burning in her face. “Okay! Tomorrow I’ll go ask Sora-san if she could help me learn how to play tennis!”

 

Jou’s lips curve upwards in a fond smile, happy to see that Mimi looks more relaxed now.

 

“That’s the spirit.”

 

Mimi sways her head enthusiastically, humming in agreement. “You know? Despite all this talk, there’s… There’s actually a thing that I know for sure I want to do.” she pipes up.

 

“What is it?” Jou inquires with genuine curiosity.

 

Mimi averts her gaze and, for a brief moment, Jou thinks he should probably clean up his dirtied glasses, because he’s seen a faint tint of pink cover Mimi’s cheeks. Must be his imagination?

 

“I want… To move in with you!” she yells a bit too loudly, covering her mouth in shame when she realises some people have turned to stare at her. “I… I mean! You’re really good at studying and… I thought we could help each other with stuff.” she rushedly adds. “Because… I want to start deciding things for myself, you know? Since—”

 

“W— Wait. Hold on.” Jou cuts her in the middle of her rambling, but she keeps talking barely a moment afterwards, not even giving him time to say anything.

 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to! I totally understand! I just thought it’d be nice…”

 

“I’m— It’s. It’s not like I’m… against it.” Jou struggles to get out, face flushed a deep shade of red. “It just… Took me by surprise…”

 

“...It’s… My parents always keep moving around. I… I like travelling, but…”

 

“...You don’t like trailing behind them all the time?” Jou tries to finish the sentence for her.

 

Mimi nods gratefully. “Yeah. And… I know you’re really busy, so… I thought I could help you out, too.” she raises her head rather hastily, as if she’s abruptly remembered something. “I could get a part-job, if—”

 

“Mimi-kun, slow down. Please.” Jou cuts her again, clearly overwhelmed by trying to keep up with everything she’s throwing at him.

 

She finally remains quiet, looking at him with slight apprehension and doubt. He clears his throat awkwardly before speaking up next.

 

“It’s… I wouldn’t mind. I rather like the idea, actually. Even if we’re in different grades…”

 

Studying together would make him feel less lonely, that’s for sure.

 

“Thank you, Jou-senpai! I promise I’ll keep everything clean!” Mimi says, bowing a bit in front of the bewildered people at the restaurant.

 

“Mimi-kun, that’s not necessary at all…? I do try to keep everything as tidy as possible, but…”

 

“No buts! I will!” Mimi insists. “Wait— Do you even have a spare room I could use?” she blushes a bit while asking that. “I mean, I know that in the Digital World we’ve all already slept together—”

 

Jou stands up from his chair, covering Mimi’s mouth with one of his hands. He uses the other one to take out some money from his pocket and smash it against the wooden cafe table, dragging his friend out of the restaurant despite her muffled protests.

 

He lets go of her once they’ve walked out of the building.

 

“What was that for?!” Mimi asks, indigned.

 

“We’ve embarrassed ourselves enough inside there.” Jou replies, mumbling what vaguely sounds like a curse spell under his breath.

 

“Well? You still haven’t answered my question.” Mimi insisted with a hint of annoyance.

 

“I do. We can set up a bed in there, it’s all right.” Jou tells her.

 

“Okay! Then I know what are we gonna do today!” Mimi screams with eagerness, linking her arm with Jou’s and pointing at the shopping district. “Let’s look for my new bed!”

 

“Eh?! Mimi-kun, p-please hold on! I really need to study for my upcoming mock exam—”

 

His protest is left unheard, because Mimi is already walking and forcefully making him keep up with her pace. Well, she’d always been a hurricane of energy, so Jou should’ve known better.

 

Still. It was a shame. The poor student could have really used that time to prepare himself for his test.

 

After all, Mimi actually would end up not using that bed much at all.


	2. Day 2 - Hand hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jou was strong, yes. But even he needed help, sometimes. And Mimi would always gladly hold his hand and support him all the way.

Jou was a really strong person, despite his messy appearance and fame for being unreliable. It wasn’t easy to make him crack under pressure, and he usually was able to keep himself together and pull through everything.

 

But he had a limit, too. Sometimes the words in the textbooks became unreadable jumbles, with all the letters messing themselves up together. No matter how much he tried to focus then, he’d spend ten minutes staring at the same page, only to get stressed because his brain wasn’t processing any of the information. His vision would become blurry, making the colors of the words and pictures mix all together.

 

That was when Mimi would step in. She’d quietly slip into the room, gently closing the book and trying to guide Jou away from his desk, away from all the mountain of worksheets and the pile of tests with low scores. 

 

Like she was doing now.

 

“Jou-senpai, you need to take a break.” she insisted, hand firmly holding his notebook down. 

 

“I’m fine, Mimi-kun.” Jou reassured her, but the red and puffy eyes behind the glasses suggested otherwise. “I just have a really important exam tomorrow. Please let me review this again.”

 

“You’ve been ‘reviewing’ for the past two hours nonstop.” Mimi scoffed, shaking her head lightly. “That’s not healthy.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m fine. I’ll rest after I get this test done with.”

 

“You say that every single time, but you never give yourself time to rest. Your head is always glued to these stupid books. You can’t go on like this!” Mimi told him, masking her deep worry with anger. 

 

“You’ll understand if you ever go to college.” Jou dismissed her, making a vague gesture in the air. “Now please—”

 

“I said you. Need. A break.” Mimi narrowed her eyes with defiance, making sure that Jou understood that she had no intention of backing off, putting emphasis in every word. “Get up from there and relax for a bit.”

 

“Relaxing isn’t going to help me memorize all of this.” Jou weakly protested.

 

“I bet you’ve been looking at the same paragraph for the past hour. Come on.” Mimi pouted, not willing to put up with any of this. “Come with me, will you?” she asked, voice suddenly soft and barely above a whisper.

 

Jou finally raised his head from the paper, observing Mimi with a slightly troubled expression. “But… I need to…” he trailed off, averting his gaze.

“You need to take care of yourself first.” Mimi finished the sentence for him instead. She held out her hand towards Jou, letting it rest in the air between them. “Let’s go. I can make dinner.”

 

“...It’s so late already?” Jou mumbled, eyes going wide in shock, desperately searching for a clock to confirm if Mimi’s words were true.

 

She sighed with resignation, simply opting to take her phone out from her pocket and show Jou the time. To his dismay, it was actually even later than his usual dinnertime. His shoulders slumped forward in disappointment, not wanting to admit that he’d completely lost track of the hours passing.

 

Mimi nodded, as if she was satisfied with his reaction. Without further warning, she lifted Jou’s chair away from his workplace, making the boy let out a tiny screech at the uncomfortable sound of the chair’s legs sliding across the wooden floor. 

 

“I’ve been living here for a bit already, but I’m almost always eating alone, with you always shut inside your bedroom all day.” Mimi complained a bit. “Is my cooking that bad?” she teased him, pretending to be deeply offended.

 

“O-Of course not, Mimi-kun!” Jou frantically shook his head.

 

“But how can you be so sure? You’ve barely tried it!” Mimi put her hand over her chest in a dramatic gesture. “Oh, you kind and brave Jou-senpai, you don’t need to lie to make a lady happy…!”

 

Jou sweatdropped, clearly way less inclined to take her seriously now, but still deciding to do so, if only to humour her. “Then we must fix that, so that my words will not be a lie. Right?”

 

“...Yeah. I’d like that.” Mimi agreed quietly. “Shall we go?” she held out her hand in the air again, smiling tenderly when Jou took it to help himself stand up.

 

She held onto it strongly, not letting go as she walked towards the kitchen. It may have been merely her imagination, playing tricks on her, but she could swear she’d felt Jou squeeze her hand tightly.

 

Mimi gave a tight squeeze back, just in case, pointedly forcing herself to ignore the unexpected flush of pink that had covered her face. They were okay like this.

 

Because Jou was strong, yes. But even he needed help, sometimes. And Mimi would always gladly hold his hand and support him all the way.


	3. Day 3 - Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t unusual for Mimi to go on sudden travelling sprees. And that was okay, everyone respected her choices.  
> That still didn’t explain why _Jou_ was standing in a line in Tokyo's airport.

For the fifth time that morning, Jou asked himself why had he agreed to this. 

 

It wasn’t unusual for Mimi to go on sudden travelling sprees, with or without her parents, because she was very impulsive and loved seeing the different cultures across the globe. And that was okay, everyone respected her choices.

 

That still didn’t explain why  _ Jou _ was standing in a line in the airport, waiting to buy a pair of tickets for a direct flight from Japan to France. 

 

He shivered at the mere thought of spending twelve hours sitting inside a plane with nothing to do. Would he be able to adapt to the timezone change? No, wait. He had never been on a plane before. Would his stomach be alright? What if he suffered some kind of motion sickness? Would he even live and survive the ride?

 

For a brief moment he considered stepping out of the line and cancelling the plan, saying sorry to Mimi and that he’d make it up to her somehow, but he remembered the pure happiness shining on her face when Jou told her that he’d come with her, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to ruin that, no matter how much his mind screamed at him to walk home.

 

He forced himself to remain calm, scanning the airport with a quick glance. Tokyo’s main airport was as busy as usual, even on the morning of a weekday, and even though Mimi had told him to wait in the line for her, he was getting slightly anxious, because what if she somehow didn’t make it on time? There was no way that he was boarding that plane alone. 

 

What was he even saying? It was Mimi who had the money to pay for this to begin with, so if she didn’t come he’d just have to step out without buying anything, right? It’d be incredibly awkward, sure, but—

 

“Jou-senpaiiiii!” he stopped thinking about the ‘what if’ when he heard a high, girly voice yell his name with way more force than it was socially acceptable.

 

He tried to spot Mimi with his eyes, waving in the direction he had heard the voice come from. Sure enough, the girl waved back, running towards the queue to meet up with him. Jou could only stare in pure disbelief at the frankly ridiculous amount of bags she was carrying on her arms.

 

She walked across the sea of people as best as she could, having to constantly apologize for hitting people around with all of her luggage. With one last clumsy motion, she shoved the last couple of people separating her from Jou, and she stood next to him with a wide smile.

 

“Here am I! Are you ready?” she bubbly asked, running her hand through one of her bags, probably trying to find her wallet in order to pay for the tickets.

 

“Yes. Though I still can’t believe you have enough money to pay for all of this.” Jou admitted, scratching his neck nervously. 

 

“Thank Mama and Papa when we get back.” Mimi merely said, humming in delight when she finally managed to localize her wallet. She took it out of the bag and handed it to Jou.

 

“Why are you carrying so much stuff?”

 

“A lady has some basic needs.” she scoffed.

 

“Mimi-kun, I don’t believe…” he started to mentally count all her bags. “...six bags and a suitcase are required to cover up ‘basic needs’.”

 

“What would you know? Boys wear the same three shirts all of their lives.” Mimi argued, taking out a small mirror to check that her makeup was still on point.

 

Jou held onto his small suitcase tightly, feeling rather self-concious. “It’s still too much baggage...”

 

“Shh. It has all of what we need to make this vacation perfect.” Mimi insisted. “Can you believe I almost forgot to pack the boxing bag?”

 

“Why do we need a boxing bag?” Jou asked with a hint of fear.

 

“Sometimes pools aren’t enough to relieve stress.” Mimi replied, as if it was the most obvious thing on Earth. “It specially won’t be enough for you. You probably have stress flowing in your veins, instead of actual blood.”

 

“I feel offended. I’m not  _ that _ stressed these days.” Jou pouted a bit.

 

“You had a nervous attack yesterday.” Mimi pointed out with a deadpan face.

 

“Because you came back home at one in the morning, yelling at me to go on a vacation to Europe. My reaction is perfectly justified, if you ask me.” Jou muttered, checking his watch with slight apprehension.

 

“You still need to chill.” Mimi dismissed him, wrapping a friendly arm around his shoulders. She gave him a tight squeeze, and Jou could only grin sheepishly at her overly carefree attitude. 

 

“You didn’t bring any of your textbooks, did you?” Mimi whispered sweetly in his ear, making Jou flinch against his will. Her tone was soft and cheery, but he could only think of the hand keeping him frozen in place.

 

She had experience with punching things, right?...

 

“No, I haven’t.” Jou frantically shook his head, mind already rushing to think of a way to keep his Science book hidden for all the trip so that Mimi wouldn’t knock him out. 

 

“Good.” Mimi nodded, satisfied. “Oh, look, it’s our turn!” she piped up, pointing at the empty counter in front of them and dragging Jou towards it.

 

“Good morning!” Mimi happily greeted the girl behind the counter. “Two tickets for Paris, please.”

 

“Of course.” the girl nodded, typing something on her computer and standing up from the chair.

 

“Do you have the money ready?” Mimi asked.

 

“Uh, yeah.”

 

“Here are your tickets.” the girl handed the papers to them before indicating the price that they had to pay.

 

Jou gulped as he heard the eye-popping sum of money that they needed to pay, but Mimi looked completely nonchalant, as if she had merely been talking about the nice weather, so Jou decided to try to show indifference as he started to hand the worker several yen bills, until they paid all the price.

 

“Your husband here must be very successful on his work, huh?” the girl lightheartedly teased Mimi, counting the money to make sure no amount was missing.

 

“Wha— He’s not my husband!” Mimi shrieked in embarrassment, face turning red like a tomato in a matter of seconds. “Let’s leave, Jou-senpai!” she quickly hanged onto his arm and ran away, once again dragging him behind.

 

“Mimi-kun, hang on a se—”

 

“No! Come on, we’re gonna miss the flight!” she hastily insisted.

 

“There’s still plenty of time before we need to board! Calm down.” Jou yelled, grabbing onto her wrist to hold her on place.

 

Mimi spun around, coughing a bit awkwardly and hoping that the pink had faded away from her cheeks, though they still felt hot, so that was probably not the case. “Sorry, that comment just… took me by surprise. Do we really look like a couple that much?” she blurted out without thinking.

 

Jou blinked twice, now blushing hard as well. “I… I mean… I don’t know.” he honestly answered. “Does it bother you?”

 

Mimi slowly shook her head. “It… surprised me. It’s all. Sorry about that?”

 

“It’s okay.” Jou reassured her, albeit a bit hesitantly. “But… does that mean you…?”

 

“What?” Mimi asked, raising her eyebrows with curiosity.

 

“...Nevermind.” Jou opted to not finish his own sentence, releasing her wrist instead. “Let’s go, if we board the plane soon we’ll get relaxed faster, right?”

 

“I mean… yeah. I guess that’s true.” Mimi agreed, not really wanting to point out how stupid that sounded. “But wait, what were you gonna say?”

 

Jou blushed again, averting his gaze. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get moving.” 

 

“...Alright.” Mimi sighed, dropping the topic. “Well, let’s go on our vacation!” she yelled enthusiastically, clearly trying to leave the awkward atmosphere behind. 

 

Jou released a breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding in. The tension slipped away from his muscles, but there was still a deep shade of red covering his face as he thought of what he’d been about to say.

 

_ Does that mean you’d like to be my girlfriend? _


	4. Day 4 - Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And as she hugged the boy as close as she could, Mimi could only smile in happiness and relief. Spending long nights comforting Jou didn't really feel like a sacrifice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is personally my favorite prompt up to date <3 I hope you have fun with my interpretation for it.

Mimi had always heard so many different things about love from her Mama and Papa. 

 

Like how at first you’d feel like your heart was about to burst out from your chest whenever the other person walked inside the same room as you. The butterflies, the awkward blushes and shy hugs. She enjoyed hearing all of it, only able to daydream of the day when she’d fall in love and be able to tell a story of her own.

 

There was a part that she’d never liked about love, though.

 

The notion of self-sacrifice.

 

So many tales included it. The girl running away and leaving behind everything she worked for to start a new life with her beloved. The boy working endlessly to grant all the dreams and fantasies that his other half wished for.

 

No matter how much you cared for another person, how would you be able to throw away a part of yourself for someone else’s sake?

 

Mimi never understood it, and, frankly, she didn't want to. As romantic as it may have been, it just felt nonsensical, like it wouldn't really work out in real life. She firmly wanted to believe that if two people truly loved each other, they’d try to make things work out together, searching for a middle ground and looking for their best interests. 

 

It shouldn't have to feel like they were renouncing to something for each other’s sake. She didn't want love to work like that.

 

But, as she held the weeping boy close to her chest, Mimi couldn't deny that she’d begun to comprehend it better, if only just a little bit.

 

She understood why Yamato always tried to make space in his busy schedule to meet up with Sora, why Sora always tried to attend all of his concerts even when she didn't feel like going.

 

She understood why Taichi stayed over at Koushiro’s house after soccer practice despite being dead tired, why Koushiro would drop everything he’d been working on if the other boy asked for his help.

 

Mimi bit her lip. Maybe, her sacrifices came in the form of sleepless nights, when Jou got too overwhelmed with work and wanted to give up on college, on his dream, on everything. She’d always stay awake with him, running gentle fingers across his hair and reassuring him of all his worth over and over, until poor Jou started to calm down and snooze off, safe in her arms.

 

She sighed softly, leaning down on Jou’s bed and closing her eyes, feeling the weight of the boy against her. The silence of the room was comforting, and somehow, she had never felt so hyper aware and so sleepy at the same time. The soft locks of hair tickling on her neck made her unable to fall asleep, however, despite the ridiculously late time flashing on the digital clock, reminding her that she’d have to get up soon.

 

“Mimi-kun.” Jou spoke in a whisper, jolting her awake. “Thank you.”

 

“Don’t mention it.” Mimi quietly replied.

 

“I’m very sorry for bothering you while you could have been resting…”

 

“It’s fine.” Mimi shut down what was surely going to be a long string of apologies. “Really, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Alright? You've helped me out a lot of times. It’s only natural I’d do the same.”

 

Jou nodded weakly. “You can leave now. I'll be okay.”

 

“...Do you  _ want  _ me to leave?” Mimi asked, voice barely audible even in the soundless air.

 

“I…” Jou didn't say anything for a long time, and Mimi was starting to think that he might have finally fallen asleep, but he suddenly mumbled something.

 

It was only a short word, but it carried so much weight and spoke volumes, causing Mimi’s already erratic heartbeat to fasten even more.

 

“Stay. Please stay.” he breathed out against her skin, sending shivers down her spine.

 

She wrapped her arms around his waist in a loose hug without thinking, basking in the soothing warmth that Jou emitted. The boy also snuggled up closer, and Mimi was sure that this feeling was the closest that she’d ever get to Heaven for as long as she was alive.

 

“Is it okay? Being so close… like this? Doesn't it feel…” Jou piped up, and Mimi couldn't help but smile endearingly. Leave it to him to try to make problems where there weren't any.

 

“Does it matter, Jou-senpai?” Mimi simply retorted. “I… I like it.” she admitted, unable to hide her deep blush.

 

“...Goodnight, Mimi.”

 

“Sleep well… Jou.”

 

And as she hugged the boy as close as she could, Mimi could only smile in happiness and relief.

 

Happiness because this, whatever  _ this  _ was, was definitely what love should feel like.

 

Relief because spending long nights comforting Jou didn't really feel like a  _ sacrifice _ . As long as they were together, she'd do anything for him, and she knew that he’d do the same.

 

Was she supposed to make the first move? Considering how awkward Jou was, it’d take ages if she waited around for him…

 

So she'd probably have to take the initiative. Well, she was used to that. And, right now, it didn't really matter.

 

They were fine like this. It’d work out.


End file.
